Hybrid Cars - Transport for the Future

Hybrid cars are one of the more recent, and most practical, innovations in the fight against greenhouse gases and global warming. Electric cars would of course be the ultimate in reducing emissions, aside from those produced in the generation of the electricity used to power them. But all attempts to produce a viable electric car have produced nothing that would be useable and practical to the average driver.

Electric cars are all very well if you do not wish to travel faster than 40-50 mph, or go more than 100 miles before recharging you batteries for several hours. But for most of us this isn’t a realistic option. Many of us however would still like to make a contribution to the good of the environment without it adversely affecting our daily lives, and hybrid cars are a great way to start towards this goal.

One direct and immediate benefit of driving a hybrid car is the reduction in your fuel bill. This has become more and more important recently with the escalating cost of gas at the pumps. A typical car driving around town will return fuel economy figures of less than 25 mpg. This can be much lower with the larger cars that many own and especially with SUV’s which often have alarmingly low fuel economy around town often running at 15-25 mpg with many achieving less than 10 mpg!

This startlingly low, and increasingly expensive, figure can be improved dramatically by changing to any of the hybrid cars that are currently on the market. You should find it relatively easy to achieve figures in excess of 55 mpg; with even large SUV’s getting a figure of 30-40 mpg. This obviously depends on the type of driving you do, your hybrid carcar and your style of driving, but there are considerable savings to be had.